Being Your Friend Is Such a Blessing

After connecting with "Mr. Liang," Fang Pingfang first asked Dr. Yang to leave the conference room.

Dr. Yang had no objections and cooperated fully, voluntarily leaving the meeting room and closing the door behind him.

But he didn't go far. He leaned against the wall and looked at his phone, waiting for Fang Pingfang and Mr. Liang to finish their conversation. He felt that no matter what happened in the "Ninth Laboratory" last night, given his security clearance, Mr. Liang should allow him to participate in the solution or investigation. Otherwise, if there were any solutions or follow-up research plans, Fang Pingfang alone wouldn't be able to handle them at the research center in Ironpeace Town.

Inside the meeting room, Fang Pingfang gave Mr. Liang a detailed account of her experiences in the D2 laboratories the previous night.

After listening, "Mr. Liang" didn't respond for a long time, but Fang Pingfang wasn't in a hurry and waited quietly.

She knew that, compared to her or the other researchers hired at high salaries by the secret departments of "Shenxing Technology," "Mr. Liang" certainly had a deeper understanding of the Rabbit Woodcarving they brought back from the Qinling Uninhabited Zone.

Or rather, there was a preconceived notion about the "person" or other creature that hid in the cliff caves of the Qinling Uninhabited Zone, killed those birds, made that rough wooden carving, and left that footprint; otherwise, they wouldn't have been sent on that journey.

During her time working for Shenxing Technology after returning to China, Fang Pingfang never met Mr. Liang in person. However, through numerous exchanges and phone calls, she clearly sensed that Mr. Liang was very clear about what they were researching and the goals they were pursuing. But for some reason, he seemed to avoid revealing everything to them, instead offering various forms of guidance.

It's like someone paying them a lot of money to solve problems, but the person who paid them already knows the answers.

It seemed as if they were deliberately training their "problem-solving skills".

"What are your thoughts?" Mr. Liang's very distinctive voice rang out again.

Fang Pingfang was not surprised by this question. In the past, whether he was observing special phenomena in the laboratory or discovering special things or organisms during field exploration, he would often ask this question first.

Fang Pingfang had already figured out the answer to this question. In fact, she had been thinking about this question ever since she encountered those strange things last night.

"After having a strange dream for the first time in the Qinling Uninhabited Zone, my guess is that the wooden carving was the cause of our problem."

"It may be influenced by some kind of energy, and it carries a magnetic field with certain properties."

"However, after arriving here, we conducted extensive tests on the wood carving, and found nothing abnormal about its material composition or energy radiation. We also failed to conduct a dream test. I suspect that some of its properties lost their effectiveness after leaving the Qinling Uninhabited Zone, or that they dissipated on their own over time."

"It suddenly 'awakened' last night and directly caused me to hallucinate. It's possible that its characteristics reverted after a period of time."

"But today I have another theory. Back in the Qinling Mountains, the reason why Team Leader Li and I thought our strange dreams were related to that wood carving was because 'rabbit meat' and 'rabbit'-related elements appeared in the dreams, and the wood carving was in the shape of a rabbit, making it the strangest and most unusual item we carried. After we left it, the strange dreams stopped, which reinforced our understanding."

"But what if the thing that's affecting us and giving us strange dreams wasn't the wood carving in the first place?"

Meanwhile, Mr. Liang, who was in the Qinling Uninhabited Zone, heard these words and said with admiration, "You mean, the one who affected you was the person who carved this wood carving? He entered our research center last night and caused you to hallucinate?"

But Fang Pingfang said, "That's one possibility, but I actually lean towards another: the 'person' who left footprints and made that strange wooden carving in the cliff cave may have been influenced in a similar way to us, had similar dreams, or hallucinations. He carved this rabbit-shaped wooden carving out of some kind of worship, or he may have thought that the 'rabbit meat' in his dream or hallucination was some kind of entity making demands on him, so he made this Rabbit Woodcarving as a response."

"The bird carcasses in the cave were likely items that the 'person' used as a temporary substitute for rabbit meat when they couldn't find any, just like the wooden carving."

"It may have been existing, in ways we don't understand, among other items we brought back from the Qinling Uninhabited Zone."

Mr. Liang still encouraged Fang Pingfang's guess, saying, "It's a very interesting idea."

"Do you agree with this guess?" Fang Pingfang pressed.

Mr. Liang did not give a direct response, but said, "Your handling of the situation was also correct. Last night's situation was indeed very dangerous. Since it could let you see rabbit meat, it could naturally let you see other things as well. Not everyone has your calm judgment. Once they are affected, it could cause incalculable consequences. It was right of you to temporarily blockade D1 and D2. I will personally handle the situation there. You don't need to worry about it."

Fang Pingfang was taken aback. She had assumed Mr. Liang would offer further instructions, or at least that they would be his assistants if he came personally. But judging from his words, it seemed Mr. Liang meant that they were no longer needed.

Sure enough, Mr. Liang continued, "I will have someone send a formal notice that all researchers will be transferred to Qicheng City."

"But..." Fang Pingfang frowned, wanting to say something.

But before he could even open his mouth, Mr. Liang interrupted him, "Instead of going to Qicheng City, you're going to Haixi Province. There's an unusual situation there, and you can use this time to look into it."

"Am I the only one here, Dr. Yang...?"

"He's leading a team to Qicheng City. Don't worry, you're not alone. The other team members will meet you, and some of them are old acquaintances of yours."

After Mr. Liang finished speaking, he asked Fang Pingfang to call Dr. Yang over and personally explain to him the plan for the Ironpeace Town research team to relocate to Qicheng City.

After ending his call with Dr. Yang and Fang Pingfang, Mr. Liang gently waved his hand, and the small drone's power system restarted, taking off into the air with minimal noise.

If anyone were to see Mr. Liang at this moment, they would surely be awestruck by his appearance.

After all, the special substance covered with spider silk patterns on his body looked too strange. It completely covered every inch of his body from head to toe, and it didn't look like a special bodysuit, but rather like his "skin".

His facial features were also different from ordinary people. His eyes had no eyelids, and they looked like two big eyeballs embedded in his face. His pupils were very large, and there was very little white in his eyes. His nostrils were also flat and wide, making him look very different from normal people.

Mr. Liang scanned the traces around him. His eyes were quite different from ordinary people's, possessing multiple detection and imaging modes, capable of detecting electromagnetic waves of different frequencies and wavelengths. Some of these abilities were inherent to him, but most were acquired through the "contact lenses" that replaced his corneas.

Through these "invisible lenses," he can even receive more images and other detection information from the drones that roam around. He can also use them to browse past records, such as footage taken by drones when Fang Pingfang and Team Leader Li explored this area.

Through comparison and analysis, he preliminarily determined that "Blood-feeding Creature" had indeed appeared here, and there was likely more than one.

The footprints Fang Pingfang and her group discovered, and the wooden carvings in the cave, were likely created by a human-transformed "Blood-feeding Creature." He probably came to this Qinling Uninhabited Zone after seeing Host Xue's video and discovering that other "Blood-feeding Creature" might exist in this Qinling Uninhabited Zone, so he came to "hunt."

If it is indeed a "Blood-feeding Creature" transformed from a human, then it should be a "predator".

Mr. Liang squatted down, picked up a piece of soil, examined it carefully, and then put it directly into his mouth and began to chew.

After a series of chilling, grating chewing sounds, he spat out the dirt residue, wiped his mouth, and reaffirmed his deduction that a "Blood-feeding Creature" had appeared here and was injured.

After the body tissues of the "Blood-feeding Creature" are separated from the body and "die," they quickly transform into another substance, for which it has its own special "detection" method.

He can even use this "detection" to estimate how long it has been since those body tissues left the body.

However, whether this "hunt" had any results, and whether the "Blood-feeding Creature" that originally lived in this area were captured by the human "predators" from outside, he could not yet make a definite deduction.

"A new 'predator'?" Mr. Liang's voice seemed even more hoarse, sounding even harsher and harder to understand, but he wasn't speaking to anyone else; he was just talking to himself. "Hopefully, this time it won't disappoint me."

After he finished speaking, a smile appeared on his lipless mouth, the corners of his mouth splitting back all the way to his ears.

When Xiang Kun received Liu Caifu's WeChat, it was already 10:30 p. m.

After having lunch in Chongyun Village, spending the afternoon playing, and enjoying a hearty dinner, they left the village and returned to the town.

At this moment, Xiang Kun and a group of friends, including the You Meng couple who had returned from Liang Yulong's hometown, a total of eleven people, were playing Werewolf at the "Youlong Restaurant".

Playing this game was incredibly easy for Xiang Kun; it was practically like using a cheat code.

However, he didn't pursue winning or losing too much. Instead, he guided the game by aiming to motivate everyone and make it more fun. Sometimes, he even "sacrificed himself" to make everyone happy.

Of course, Xia Libing is also a "powerful weapon" in this game. She can easily see through other people's true identities and can also "seriously" say very logical things to mislead others.

Therefore, even though Xiang Kun and Lao Xia were on the same side, they often had to subtly guide and limit Lao Xia's performance.

However, because he is perceived as very capable, he cannot make it too obvious, otherwise people will easily think he is throwing the game, which would reduce the fun of the game.

Therefore, he can only rely on a more detailed and complete cognitive model of everyone, and guide the whole through subtle and chain-like influences, so that everyone can enjoy the game more and fight against Lao Xia, this "big weapon".

For example, if Xiang Kun wants Zicheng to make reaction D, he needs to provide information C. So he needs Yang Jie to make reaction B, which will allow Zicheng to make the judgment based on information C. Thus, Xiang Kun influences Zhang Qian through seemingly unintentional actions, making Zhang Qian make reaction A, which in turn triggers Yang Jie's reaction B.

The same sentence, spoken by different people, can have different effects on different people.

Even for Xiang Kun, this was a rather complicated task, requiring meticulous thought and specific responses.

The final result was that after playing Werewolf all night, everyone realized that Lao Xia was indeed even more terrifying than Xiang Kun. His eyes were too sharp! He was too cunning! He was too good at acting! He was a devil! No wonder he was Xiang Kun psychology.

As the game ended, Xiang Kun looked at Liu Caifu's message on WeChat and couldn't help but feel puzzled. The message said that he was with Liu Feibao, and because of what happened this morning and yesterday afternoon, Liu Feibao felt very sorry and wanted to reconcile with Xiang Kun, asking if he was free to come over for a late-night snack.

The only people who knew what happened on the road in Chongyun Village that morning were the people in their two cars, Liu Caifu who came to help, and those two idiots who were trying to stage an accident.

Neither they nor Liu Caifu would readily reveal such information. How could Liu Feibao find out so quickly? Did those two idiots tell Liu Feibao themselves?

Xiang Kun felt that his initial cognitive model of those two idiots needed to be revised again...

He didn't care about Liu Feibao at all, but since Liu Caifu was there, he had to give him some face. So he replied, "I'm with some friends and can't leave for a while. If you're still here after I take them back to the hotel, I'll come over."

Liu Caifu responded with an OK sign.

Xiang Kun knew that since Liu Feibao Liu Caifu to arrange a meeting with him, he would definitely wait until Xiang Kun arrived.

By 11 p. m., everyone was getting a little hungry, Xiang Kun and You Meng went to the restaurant's kitchen to make a late-night snack. When they arrived, Xiang Kun had already ordered soup noodles for everyone, so he had prepared all the ingredients in advance.

You Meng was in charge of the soup base, Xiang Kun was responsible for ensuring that everyone's noodles were cooked to the right consistency, with more meat or vegetables, what side dishes to add, and the specific seasonings for each person.

"Despite his plump figure, Zicheng actually prefers bean products to meat. Give him a few more pieces of tofu skin and some dried bean curd sticks too..."

"Nana prefers milder flavors, can't handle spicy food well, and doesn't like things too salty, but she loves meat. She prefers rabbit leg meat to rabbit breast. As for vegetables, water spinach and broccoli are her favorites, but for soup noodles, bean sprouts are better..."

"Zhen'er prefers stronger flavors and loves spicy food, but she can't actually handle very much spice. Medium spicy is just right for her. What is medium spicy? Look at the seasoning I've prepared, this is her favorite..."

"Lao Xia has a pretty tolerant palate; she can eat almost anything. However, compared to other flavors, she prefers sweets. Of course, you can't add sugar to this noodle dish, but you can add more seafood for her. Give her a third of the shrimp, and all the meat should be boneless, lean or fatty, whatever you like..."

"Yang Zhuo also loves to eat meat, but he hates fatty meat and prefers lean meat. He doesn't like to eat any animal skin, but he doesn't mind if it's fried crispy. Add some fried peanuts for him..."

"Xiao Min especially loves rice noodles, he'll definitely like the rice noodles from your Tongshi Town..."

Before serving each bowl of noodles, Xiang Kun would explain his reasoning to You Meng —because he knew he would often bring these friends over, You Meng could help him entertain them when he couldn't be there, so he tried his best to describe their preferences clearly.

The last two bowls, one topped with cilantro and the other without cilantro but with garlic, were prepared by Xiang Kun to You Meng. "You should know whose taste these two bowls are meant for."

You Meng knew this, of course. He had mentioned to Xiang Kun before that his wife, Liang Yulong, loved cilantro, while he hated it.

You Meng bent down to take a sip of noodle soup, then stood up, shaking his head and sighing, "Being your friend is fucking blissful."